Investigator: Postmus had 'master plan' to gain power over S.B. County

Friday

Oct 8, 2010 at 3:10 PMMar 27, 2013 at 7:49 AM

Natasha Lindstrom

SAN BERNARDINO • Former San Bernardino County Supervisor Bill Postmus contrived a scheme to become tax assessor, fill his executive staff with cronies and use the public office for political and personal gain, a District Attorney's investigator testified Friday at Postmus' preliminary hearing on corruption charges.

Postmus and his codefendant Greg Eyler, a former taxpayer advocate under Postmus, listened as Deputy District Attorney Lewis Cope interviewed Senior Investigator Hollis D. Randles in San Bernardino Superior Court. The two defendants face felonies related to abusing taxpayer dollars in the Assessor's office.

The bulk of Randles' testimony stemmed from more than 100 interviews with former assistant assessor Adam Aleman, who agreed to testify against his former colleagues in exchange for a lighter sentence on his own perjury charges.

"Adam Aleman said Mr. Postmus' plan — his master plan as he put it — was to be elected assessor and, while still chairman of the Board of Supervisors, increase the budget of the Assessor's office and increase the staffing ... and to hire political allies," Randles testified, so Postmus could "enhance his power" over San Bernardino County.

Postmus represented the High Desert as 1st District Supervisor from 2000 until 2006, when he was elected Assessor. Prosecutors have argued he then hired unqualified friends and political associates in superfluous positions, ignored rampant timecard fraud and used his county credit card to rack up hundreds of dollars in personal expenses, from gas for personal trips to a $661 plane ticket for a business partner.

Randles testified that Aleman told him several of the top staffers hired by Postmus did little to no county work, including Intergovernmental Relations Officer Rex Gutierrez, Special Assistant Joshua White, contractors Mike Richman and Eyler.

According to Aleman, Eyler and Postmus were involved in a homosexual relationship, Randles said. Both Postmus and Eyler have denied the allegation.

In an e-mail statement Friday, Postmus said, "Today's pre-trial hearing is just another example of how our sexcrazed District Attorney Mike Ramos will stop at nothing to draw attention away from his continuous professional lapses and sexual misconduct with his own subordinates."

Eyler was at one point working as a data-entry clerk for the now-defunct California Charter Academy, and when the school shut down Postmus created the nonprofit High Desert Youth Fund "specifically to give Mr. Eyler a paying job," Randles said. Those funds ran out after a year, and so Postmus reached out to 2nd District Supervisor Paul Biane to make Eyler a field representative.

When Biane's office fired Eyler for poor performance, Postmus created the taxpayer advocate position for Eyler, Randles testified. While there, Eyler rarely did county work and often left early to run personal errands for Postmus, Randles said.

Postmus hired Gutierrez as a favor to Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeffrey Burum, and Postmus hired Jonathan Stucker as a public service employee after meeting him on a gay website, according to Randles' testimony.

Postmus told parttime Assessor's worker Bob Smith, who was seeking a bid for the Assembly, that Postmus himself only had to be in the office two days a year to sign off the tax rolls, Randles testified.

When they showed up for work, several of the executive staffers worked on political campaigns, Randles said. At the behest of Postmus, Randles said, Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin, Communications Director Ted Lehrer and others ran the political websites RedCounty.com and FlashReport. They promoted campaigns for candidates who Postmus favored, Randles said, including Assemblyman Curt Hagman, 3rd District Supervisor Neil Derry and Apple Valley Town Councilman Peter Allan.

"There's obviously another side to this story," Postmus' attorney Stephen L evine said as he left the courtroom, noting he finds it upsetting that preliminary hearings allow an investigator to testify about what others told him they told each other. A jury trial would require more firsthand witness accounts.

Levine has called Aleman a "big, fat liar."

Postmus, 39, faces nine felony counts related to grand theft, misappropriation of public funds, perjury and drug possession. He faces up to eight years in state prison.

Eyler, 34, faces two felony counts of grand theft and misappropriation. He faces up to three years in state prison.

The preliminary hearing was continued until Friday when the prosecution is expected to call Senior Investigator Schyler Beaty to testify. At its conclusion, Judge Michael A. Smith will rule whether there's enough evidence to proceed with the trial.

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Natasha Lindstrom may be reached at (760) 951-6232 or at nlindstrom@VVDailyPress.com.

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